Greater Love
by arandomshipper
Summary: Quinn gets a steady boyfriend, and Daria doesn't like him. How far will she go to break them up? Rated for death and extreme angst.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I'm not an owner, I'm just a random shipper.

 **Greater Love**

"Oh, Ben's here! Gotta go, guys."

Quinn waved happily to the other members of the fashion club, who watched with narrowed, dreamy, and blank eyes respectively as she flounced over to the car that had just pulled into the school parking lot. She got in the passenger seat and kissed the driver. Tires squealed, the car pulling away even as the occupants continued to kiss.

Daria also watched the scene, her narrowed eyes a match for Sandi's, though for entirely different reasons.

Daria's unexpressive face was probably unreadable to the average person, but her best friend Jane could tell she was fuming the entire walk home from school. If nothing else, the silence was a dead giveaway.

As they entered Casa Lane and sat at the table, each with a can of soda that had miraculously been in what was usually a refrigerator more bare than Mother Hubbard's cupboard, Jane finally had enough.

"Alright, Morgendorffer. Spill. What's got your panties in a knot? Your figurative panties, of course, since inside sources tell me you don't wear literal ones."

"I knew I should've kept my frequent urge to go commando to myself."

"Hey, you can't give me fuel like that and expect me not to light you up like a Christmas Tree. You'd probably be about as colorful as one if I happened to drop that little bomb in front of my brother, too."

"You wouldn't!"

"Of course I wouldn't. If I did that, what would I use to hang over you for the next ten years? Now, enough dodging. You're very upset about something. Since I have not taken leave of my alleged senses and rejoined the track team, I'm pulling a blank as to why. My mind-reading techniques are failing me, so you're going to have to actually open your mouth and let the words pour out like so much expired cookie dough, as difficult as that may sound, or I will continue to be clueless."

"Sounds more disgusting than difficult."

"You're right. It's easy. So spill."

Daria sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I don't like Quinn's boyfriend."

"Well, I should hope not. You two have enough to fight about as it is without throwing a love triangle into the mix."

"Putting aside the hilarious and disturbing idea that I could be attacted to a guy that would date Quinn _by choice_...I mean I don't like him as a person."

"Landing him squarely in the same category as 99% of the rest of the people on the planet. And this is different from all the other guys Quinn's dated _how_ , exactly?"

"It's different!" Daria said, irritated. "For one thing, she's dating this guy for real. It's not just a one time luxury and status grab like what she usually does. She's been dating him for a record three weeks now, and over that period of time, she's spent more time with him than with her fashion club friends. She never did that with any of her other so-called boyfriends."

Jane gave her friend a long, hard look. "Since when do you care what Quinn does or who she hangs out with?"

"I don't! It's just...he's reckless, and criminally stupid. He's not some harmless highschooler, he's a college age troublemaker and terminal dickhead who hangs with a bad crowd and makes them look like saints with his own behavior. Anyone around him is in for a load of misery."

Jane sat back in her chair, a smug smile creeping across her lips. "You're worried about her."

Daria scowled. "Don't make accusations you can't prove. My mother is a lawyer. I'll sue you for slander and take everything you've got before you can blink."

Jane gasped in fake horror. "Not my paintings! They're all I have, and they're probably worth a collective...forty cents, at least!"

"Your paintings _and_ your sculptures. So watch your mouth."

"As threatening as that is, I'm going to have to stand by my statement. You're actually _worried_ about your sister."

"Oh, sure. Rub it in, why don't you Next, you're going to tell me you've taken up waterboarding and shock therapy."

"I was, but the waterboarding process is messy and time-consuming, and I had to give up the shock therapy when I saw our power bill that week. So what are you going to do, now that you're experiencing the strange and bewildering world of familial concern?"

Another sigh from Daria. "I guess I'm gonna have to do the unthinkable. Intentionally start a conversation with Mom."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I'm not an owner, I'm just a random shipper.

 **Greater Love**

A typical family dinner that night saw Jake alternating between blissful inanities and sudden angry outbursts, while Helen's attempts to start meaningful conversations were constantly interrupted by phone calls. Quinn babbled incessently about insignificant trifles, and Daria mostly remained silent, with the occasional witty interjection when she could not restrain herself passing predictably over the heads of her father and sister and completely unheard by her occupied mother. Finally, the opportunity Daria had been waiting for came. Dinner ended, Quinn retreated to her room, phone in hand, Jake went off to do...Jake things, and Helen ended her phone call. She was surprised to find Daria still there. Usually, Daria would have been a step ahead of Quinn in the quest to escape family dinner as quickly as possible.

"What's this? My self-sufficient daughter actually needs Mommy for something?"

"Please, don't make this any harder than it has to be."

"You'll have to forgive me for gloating a bit that you want to talk to me for a change. Usually it's like pulling teeth to get you to say anything."

"Believe me, pulling teeth would be much less painful."

"Well, it must be something pretty important to make you go through the horrible experience of talking to your old Mom about it. So spill, Daria. What's the matter?"

"What's with everyone telling me to spill lately? What am I, a carton of milk?"

"Daria, please. Don't keep me in suspense."

Daria paused, but there was no more putting it off. The time for stalling was over. "Mom, I don't like Quinn's boyfriend."

"I hope you don't think that's some kind of revelation to me, Daria. You don't like anyone...er, very many people."

"This is completely separate from my general dislike for humans as a species."

"Why? Did he do something to you?" Helen asked, concerned.

"You mean other than taking up space on the planet on which I live that would be better used by, I don't know, empty air? Not really, no."

"Then I don't see what the problem is. You don't like him, chances are he doesn't like you either, you stay out of each other's way, and that's it. What's the issue?"

Daria sighed. She couldn't believe she was about to say what she was about to say. "I don't think he's good for Quinn."

"You...don't think he's _good_...for Quinn?" Her mom responded hesitantly with incredulity. Her face turned suspicious. "Alright, Daria. What's going on, here?"

"What?" Said Daria defensively. "I can't be concerned about my sister's well-being?"

"Of course you _can_ , Daria. In fact, I encourage it. I'm just having trouble believing that you _are_."

"Yeah, well, join the club." Daria crossed her arms and scowled.

"But this is a good thing, showing interest in your sister's life." Helen did a 180 as soon as she decided Daria wasn't working an angle. "Tell me more about why you don't like this what's-his-name."

"Come on, Mom. Do I really have to explain it? This guy is like a parent's worst nightmare. He drinks, he smokes, he does both of those things _legally_ , which should be a concern all by itself, he's a reckless driver, he's a total ***hole, and everyone he hangs out with is just like him. You can't tell me none of this has you worried. As hard as it is to believe that I'm protesting Quinn's choice in boyfriends, it's even harder for me to believe you're _not_.

"You're right, Daria. Your father and I are worried about all of that. But parenting is all about balance. The fact is, Quinn is following all of our rules. As long as she does, there's not a whole lot we can do. We can't live her life for her. If we forbade her from seeing him, she'd just date him behind our backs and ignore all our other rules while she was at it. At least right now we can keep her safe by always knowing where she's going and when she'll be back. If she was sneaking out to see him every night, who knows what might happen?"

"Gee, and here I thought parents were all-powerful."

"Believe me, Daria, I wish she'd dump him as quickly as all her other boyfriends, too, but anything I say has the possibility of backfiring."

"There must be something you can do, Mom."

"I have an idea, Daria. Why don't YOU talk to Quinn? Maybe you can get through to her on this. She's more likely to listen to you than me."

"Mother, you have once again put on display for all to see your woeful ignorance of your daughters' natures. I'm the last person on earth she'd listen to for dating advice."

"Oh, come on. You never know unless you try."

"There are at least three fallacies in that statement."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I'm not an owner, I'm just a random shipper.

 **Greater Love**

"Quinn, wait up!"

Quinn stopped with her hand on the door handle, and looked at Daria quizzically.

"Where are you going?"

"Oh," She smiled dreamily. "Ben said it'd be easier for him to pick me up on the corner a few blocks away, so I'm going to walk over there and wait for him."

Daria suppressed her gag reflex, along with the urge to cringe at the sight of Queen Bee Quinn being subservient to some guy. "I'll come with you."

"You don't have to do that, Daria. It's just a couple blocks. I won't get lost."

"I...we need to talk."

Quinn shrugged breezily. "Fine. We'll need to be done by the time Ben gets here, though. I'm not going to keep him waiting."

"Won't be a problem." Daria said. Internally, she added _because if I know him at all, he's going to keep you waiting on the corner for at least half an hour_.

They walked in silence for a while, Quinn growing more curious and Daria in the unique (for her) position of being unable to find the words she wanted. When they arrived at the corner, Quinn turned to Daria.

"Okay, like, what is it already?"

Daria gave a long sigh. The words she wanted were words guaranteed to make Quinn break up with Ben, and the reason they were so difficult to find is that chances were, they simply didn't exist at all. The coming argument was as inevitable as it would be ineffectual. "I wanted to talk to you about Ben."

"Oh, he's great, isn't he? He's so much more mature than the other guys I've dated. And he's so smart! He's like, a college student, you know."

"Yeah, I know." Daria could feel a rock forming in her stomach.

"And he's sexy, of course. You should see what he can do with his hands-"

"Okay, that's enough!" Quinn was shocked into silence. Daria shouting was a very, very rare occurance. Daria seething so much she could hardly speak was something like Halley's Comet. "You...you...you need to break up with that piece of trash you call a boyfriend right now!"

As she stared at Daria's finger in her face, Quinn's shock slowly gave way to anger. "And why would I do that? He's the best thing that ever happened to me."

"He's the WORST thing that's ever happened to you!" Daria roared. "He's a selfish, inconsiderate, pigheaded, brain-dead, ****tard! He treats you like garbage and makes you thank him for it! He hits on every girl he sees right in front of you! What happened to your self-respect, Quinn? How can you date this ******* piece of ****-"

Quinn's entire body was trembling with rage. It was especially pronounced in the hand that had just slapped her sister across the face. "How dare you." she hissed. "You have no right to talk about him like that!"

Daria straightened her skewed glasses. "I have every right to talk about him like that!" she hissed right back. "If he doesn't want people calling him a ****tard, he should try not being a ****tard! And when my sister is dating a ****tard, I absolutely have the right to say it!"

"Why do you always have to be like this? Everything I like, everything I'm good at, everything that makes me happy, you always have to **** all over it! EVERY TIME! I'm sick of it, Daria! Ooh, look at me, I'm Daria, I'm so perfect, I'm so smart, everything Quinn does is dumb, everyone she likes and hangs around with is a terrible person!"

Quinn's impression of her was like a punch in the gut. There was just enough truth to it to drain the anger out of her. "I'm not like that." Daria protested weakly.

"You are! That's EXACTLY what you're like! It's like you can't stand to see me happy! Do you have any idea how many times I've wished I were an only child?"

Daria was quiet for a long moment, but staring at her sister's rage-filled face as she defended that trashy boyfriend of hers, she could feel her own anger begin to build again. "I'm looking out for you! It's a big sister's job to protect the little sister, and sure, I might not have always been the best at it, but I'm trying, here!"

Quinn laughed harshly. "Oh, I think I can get along just fine without your 'protection'. My life would be so much easier if you weren't in it."

Ben pulled up next to the fuming sisters. As Quinn opened the passenger door, Daria gave one last parting shot.

"Maybe someday you'll get to find out just how true that is."

Quinn shot her a withering glare, and buried her face in her boyfriend's. Then a bunch of things happened at once. A squeal of tires as Ben pulled a U-turn mid-kiss, Daria yelling and stretching a hand out, her face twisted into a rictus of horror, another squeal of tires as the oncoming car tried to stop, and bang like a gunshot filled the neighborhood.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N** :This will be my first chapter written on and posted from my tablet. Hurray for trying new things.

Quinn stared dully at the ceiling from her hospital bed. Her mother sat next to her, watching her daughter with concerned eyes, as she had every day since Quinn had awakened from her month-long coma. Apparently, this kind of disaster was what it took for Helen to finally, really put family before work. Jake was unchanged, flitting mindlessly throughout the room and the rest of the hospital with the attention span of a gnat, though he did have an air of heaviness now that mirrored the one from his wife. Quinn was too busy wallowing in self-pity to even take notice of such a minuscule change in her old man. She had put everything into that relationship, and Ben had just abandoned her, on the run now in fear of charges of reckless endangerment and driving under the influence and on a suspended liscence, according to her mom. And she said it with such a look of hatred in her eyes that Quinn was sure those charges and more would stick, if they ever caught him.

Jake poked his head in the door. "Quinn, your friends are here to see you!" He said cheerfully. Quinn did not share his cheer. Sandi, Tiffany and Stacy had come to see her in the hospital one other time, and it was one of the most awkward moments of Quinn's life, filled with uncomfortable silences and not much else.

When the trio entered, it was immediately apparent that something was off. They were unnaturally subdued, and all three were shifting around suspiciously and refusing to meet her eyes, especially Stacy, who was the closest of the three to having something resembling a conscience, Quinn thought dispassionately.

"Mrs. Morgandorffer, may we have a moment alone with your daughter, please?" Saudi's overly respectful tone was another sign that something was wrong. Helen was hesitant to accede, but Quinn merely gave an apathetic nod when she looked at her daughter questioningly.

"I'll be right outside if you need me, dear." Helen's babying would have been annoying and embarrassing ordinarily, but Quinn couldn't bring herself to care about that any more than anything else at the moment.

"Quinn," Sandi began in that officious manner of hers, "As you know, we in the fashion club have a responsibility to the other students to maintain a standard of perfection in appearance. I regret to inform you that recent events have left you unable to meet that standard. Therefore, it is my unfortunate duty to relieve you of your position."

"You're ugly noooow." Tiffany said bluntly.

"You're kicking me out of the club." Quinn said emotionlessly, touching the fresh, still painful scars on her face.

"It doesn't have to be permanent," Sandi said, in what she probably imagined was a sympathetic manner. "If at any time you decide to get the necessary plastic surgery, we will, of course, welcome you back with open arms."

"How kind and generous of you." Quinn said sarcastically.

"I'm so, so sorry, Quinn!" Stacy burst out. "I tried to change their minds, but Sandi's right. It is the rule."

"You're sorry? Well, I'm not." Quinn chuckled bitterly. "Who needs a bunch of stuck up parasites like you calling themselves her friends? I wouldn't stay in your stupid club if you paid me. The only thing I'm SORRY about is that it took this long for me to figure out what a waste of precious air you all are."

"Careful," Sandi narrowed her eyes dangerously. "We intended to part on good terms, but that can change. You do not want me for an enemy."

"Sandi. Look at me." Quinn said pityingly. "There's nothing you can do to me that's worse than what I've done to myself. I was never scared of you, it was you that felt threatened by me, because I was a better version of you in every way. Be honest, you've been looking for an excuse to get rid of me almost from day one. I put up with it because I liked what we had, but I just don't care anymore. So do your worst. Just don't call yourself my friend anymore, you two-faced, shallow, vindictive, arrogant leech."

"Oh, I won't. And neither will anyone else, by the time I'm done." Was Sandi's parting shot, and she walked out with her nose in the air. Tiffany followed, her blank look unchanging, and last went Stacy, shooting back one last pleading, apologetic look as she left. Quinn watched them go with the total apathy that had become a part of her ever since waking from her coma. She was equally unmoved by Sandi's anger and Stacy's sympathy. Even her biting jabs at Sandi had been delivered with a monotone entirely foreign to her previous self.

Helen reentered the room. "Are you alright, honey?" She asked, having some idea what had just happened, despite not having been present.

"I'm fine," Quinn replied dismissively. "Just dumping some dead weight out of my life."

"Is that any way to talk about your friends?"

"They're not my friends. They never were." Quinn sighed. "Daria was right. I've made nothing but terrible decisions about who I hang around. I'm beginning to think I've never actually had a single real friend."

A shadow passed over Helen's face but it disappeared so quickly Quinn wasn't sure she hadn't imagined it. "Okay, now I KNOW there's something wrong if you're admitting Daria was right about something."

Quinn smiled bitterly. "We all have to grow up sometime. Right after being stabbed in the back by your friends and having your boyfriend ruin your life and run off seems like as good a time as any. I will admit that it's easier to say without her around to hear it, though. She still refusing to visit me? It's been months already. She can't stay mad forever, can she?"

Helen looked away, avoiding eye contact. "I don't know, dear. Don't...don't hold it against her, okay? This has been tough for her too."

"Oh, yes. I'm sure me being in a coma for over a month after almost dying during heart surgery has been REAL tough on her." Quinn said, touching the scarring on her chest gingerly. "She's probably too busy celebrating to visit."

"You know that's not true." Said Helen. "Your sister care...cares about you deeply. Even if she's terrible at expressing it."

"Whatever." The only thing Quinn could remember right now was her telling Daria she wished she was an only child, and Daria saying that maybe she'd get to find out what that was like. It seemed Daria meant to teach her that lesson effective immediately.


	5. Chapter 5

Some rules jump right past stupid into inane, Quinn thought, as she was forced to use a wheelchair to leave the hospital for absolutely no reason. There was nothing wrong with her legs. She had no broken bones from the accident, just lacerations and internal damage. The wheelchair was beyond pointless.

Unsurprisingly, Daria was not there to pick her up. It was at once frustrating and relieving, because as much as Quinn felt a NEED to talk to her after everything that had happened, she was also dreading the conversation, with no clue what she would actually say. Apologies and/or admissions of wrongdoing had never been her strong suit, so putting off the inevitable even momentarily was not unwelcome.

Nevertheless, she made a beeline for Daria's room as soon as they got home, only to find it not merely unlocked, which was weird of itself, but also empty. Strangely empty, without the standard amount of Daria mess, which, while typically smaller than the usual Quinn mess, should not be absent altogether.

Back in the kitchen, Helen was preparing dinner. "Mom, where's Daria? I need to talk to her."

Helen continued to work, not speaking for long enough that Quinn was beginning to wonder if she had been heard, before finally answering, "She asked to stay at Jane's for the rest of the summer."

"What!?" Quinn shrieked. "You're letting her stay for months unsupervised in a house with an adult male that she has a giant crush on!? You would never let me do that! Unfair!" Quinn didn't really care about how fair it was. She was just didn't think she could handle putting off talking to Daria for that long.

"Trent hardly counts as an adult...or a male, for that matter. I don't think we have anything to worry about." Helen said, continuing to work on dinner.

"Fine. Whatever. I'm going over to Jane's house."

"No. The doctor said no strenuous activity for at least a couple of months. That means no walking that far."

"So give me a ride."

"That is no way to ask, young lady. Being injured is no excuse for bad manners. Besides, can't you see I'm cooking right now?"

"I don't think putting frozen lasagna in the oven and heating up fries in the microwave qualifies as cooking, but fine. Dad! I need a ride to Jane's house!" Quinn yelled.

"Sure, honey! Just let me grab my keys!" Came Jake's voice from the living room.

"Jaaaake." Helen said warningly as he entered the kitchen.

"Oh! Uhh, I mean, what does your mom say?"

"I say it's time for dinner as a family, and no one is going anywhere."

"Not really a family dinner when one of us isn't here, now is it." Quinn's frustration was peaking as they all sat.

"One of us isn't here? Who's missing?" Jake said in confusion, looking around the table.

"Dear, Daria is staying at Jane's, remember?" Helen said patiently, taking his hand.

"She is?! She is! That's right, of course she is! Where else would she...be...hah."

Quinn looked at her dad strangly, but didn't comment. She strongly suspected that Daria had recruited their mother in the attempt to teach Quinn a lesson by cutting herself off from her, and it hurt that Helen was taking Daria's side, but Quinn felt that she had learned her lesson plenty already, and she would explain that to Daria just as soon as she could talk to her.

However, over the next month, Quinn's parents seemed to be busy each and every time she approached them for a ride. Helen was also hovering about whenever Quinn got it in her head to defy doctor's orders and just sneak out and walk. She didn't regret breaking from her old croud, but it was terribly inconvenient now that she couldn't call any of them for a ride.

Frustration mounted, until she finally did something she really, really didn't want to. She called up Jeffy and begged him for a ride. The old her wouldn't have wanted him to see her scarred face. The new her just didn't want to deal with him. Both hers needed to sneak out through her window to meet him, to avoid Helen's mothering.

She wore a hoodie pulled around her face to conceal it and put off answering questions, which turned out to be an intelligent precaution. If their takeoff had been delayed by Jeffy trying to figure out what had happened to her, they would never have gotten away. As it was, they barely pulled out before Helen ran out of the house, screaming at her to stop, don't go, she doesn't know what she's doing, blah, blah. Quinn ignored her and convinced Jeffy to do the same.

As they drove, Jeffy kept glancing at her concealed face. "What's up with the hoodie?" He asked.

"Oh, yeah." Said Quinn, thinking on the fly. "I'm trying out a new makeup regimen. What do you think?" She drew back the hood.

Jeffy yanked his head back from her, the wheel jerking in his hands. "Oh, yeah, it looks great!" He said, quickly regaining his composure and straightening the car out. "Um, you're not going to do this all the time, are you?"

"I don't know. Maybe. Do you think I should?" Quinn blinked innocently at him.

"No! I mean...yes? I mean...what do I know, I'm just a guy?" Jeffy squirmed.

Thankfully, they arrived at Jane's before the conversantion could proceed far enough that even Jeffy's empty brain would figure out that something was wrong, prompting a discussion Quinn was unwilling to have.

"You sure you don't want me to wait for you? I'm happy to!" Jeffy said as she left the vehicle.

"I'm sure. I'll walk home. I need the exercise."

And then she was there, standing in front of the house her sister was in, about to have a conversation she both dreaded like death and needed like air. Her hand trembled as she raised it to knock.


	6. Chapter 6

Jane seemed to mirror the dead feeling that defined Quinn ever since waking from her coma when she first opened the door, but when she saw who it was, there was an instant transformation.

"What do YOU want?" Jane snarled, her face twisted into a rictus of rage.

Quinn was taken aback by the shockingly intense hostility. "Can I talk to Daria?" She asked timidly. She had always been a bit intimidated by Jane, who, unlike Quinn, had a self-assurdness not based in others' opinions of her, a sense of individuality and independence that Quinn lacked, admired, and despised all at once. That old feeling of inferiority was ten times worse now that Jane was apparently angry at her for some reason.

Jane's eyes widened in disbelief. "Are you high? No, you can't talk to Daria, and you know exactly why! What the **** is wrong with you?!"

Quinn was starting to get mad. She knew she'd said some pretty awful things to her sister, but this was way too long to hold a grudge, and there was no way Jane should be so unreasonably angry on Daria's behalf. "**** your hurt feelings! Look at me! Don't you think I've suffered enough?"

Jane recoiled momentarily, but when she recovered, she was twice as angry as before, getting right up in Quinn's face. "Are you ******* kidding me?" Her voice was deadly quiet. "After all this, you're still going to try to make this all about you? You really are the scum of the earth, aren't you. Are you even capable of feeling anything for anyone other than yourself, you ******* selfish *****? Trying to play the sympathy card with those scars? Don't tempt me, I'll send you right back to the hospital."

Quinn drew in on herself, unable to refute a single thing Jane said. She was indeed shallow and selfish. She had come here seeking forgiveness to ease her own troubled conscience, somehow thinking it was owed her for what she had already gone through, but when it came down to it, her troubles were of her own making. Everything that had happened, she had done to herself. She had wronged Daria, and Daria had done nothing to her. Daria owed her nothing. Her sense of entitlement disappeared, leaving contrition in its wake. "You're right. I'm sorry. I know what I said to Daria was unforgivable, and I get why she won't talk to me anymore, but please. Just let me apologize. She doesn't have to forgive me, but I need to at least say it to her. Please?"

Jane's face went blank. She backed off, looking Quinn up and down. "Ah. I see. So that's how it is." There was silence for a moment as the two examined each other. Just when Quinn was going to renew her plea even more emphatically, Jane continued. "Daria's not here. Hold on one second."

She went in the house briefly. When she came out, she handed Quinn a piece of paper with a scribbled address. "This is where you'll find Daria. If you need more instructions when you get there, and you will, this should answer your questions." She said, giving Quinn a second paper, folded up.

"Thanks, Jane. Really. I appreciate this." Quinn said sincerely.

"Yeah. Sure." With the hostility gone, Jane was left somewhere between biting sarcasm and abject apathy. She slammed the door shut, blowing Quinn's hair back.

Quinn shrugged it off and examined the address. She knew the cross streets, and decided to walk, though it was quite far. There was no way she was calling her parents for a ride with how they'd been acting, and she had no interest in continuing her last conversation with Jeffy, nor in starting a new one with any of her other admirers. Walking was the only option.

She set off, in even more turmoil now than when she had left her house. In addition to the continuing anxiety of her coming confrontation with her sister, she was now filled with questions. Why wasn't Daria at Jane's, as her parents had claimed? Where was this strange place she was staying at, that it would need an entire extra set of instructions in addition to the physical address? Did it have anything to do with her mother's obsession with keeping her home? With Jane's unusual hostility? She didn't know, and thinking got her no closer to answers, so she put her head down and walked, ignoring the growing fatigue in her unused muscles. Physical exhaustion meant nothing to her at this point. She was determined to get some answers, some closure, some peace. Finally, some peace. Please, some peace.

When she arrived within sight of her destination, exhausted nearly to delerium, she simply stared without comprehension. Her mind refused to work properly, until finally, minutes later, it clicked into place, and Quinn sank to her knees with an anguished cry. "No." She sobbed, shaking her head in denial. " No, no, no, no, no." She wanted to believe that it was just an awful prank, a trick to teach her a lesson, but there was no denying the truth. A scream of pure pain ripped from her throat.

The address Jane had given her was to the Lawndale cemetery.


End file.
